The exploits of the Pioneer swimming and diving team
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The Pioneer swimming and diving team compete in the Southern Conference of the Florida State College Activities Association, a member of the NJCAA Region 8.
When you speak of college athletic success, know that the Pioneers are the pioneers in the Indian River State College. Sometimes one would wonder if it’s because the college name is associated with water. When it comes to college swimming and diving, the Pioneers are next to none in the United States.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are just exceptionally the best. The men’s team has won 47 NJCAA swimming and diving championships. What makes this a huge deal is not just the number of times they have won it, but they have won it back-to-back 47 times.
The 47 back-to-back wins means that the Pioneers hold the record for the longest unbroken United States Championship winning streak in any sport at the college level. Are they the only swimming and diving team in the NJCAA?
Like their male counterparts, the women’s team is not left behind when it comes to winning. They have won 37 consecutive national championships.
“We are proud of this achievement by our women’s swimming and diving team,” head coach Sion Brinn said after the women’s team was named the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year. “This recognition exemplifies what our student-athletes strive to achieve each year.”
The Pioneers are also busy breaking and creating new records while winning national championships for the team. In the 2019 NJCAA Swimming and Diving National Championship, the Indian River State College swimming and diving team broke three national records.
Savanna Best set a new national record in the women’s 50-yard breaststroke. She won the finals with a time of 28.77 seconds. Ryen Van Wyk set the national record in the men’s 100-yard individual medley at 49.47 seconds. Meanwhile, Jarryd Baxter broke the record in the 200-yard men’s backstroke with a remarkable 1:45.12 seconds.
While achieving all these, they are also performing well in their academics.
“The outstanding young men and women who represent IRSC are constantly striving to be the best, in both competition and the classroom,” Dr. Edwin Massey, the Indian River State College President, said.
Coach Brinn is one person who has been at the forefront of the Pioneers’ success story since 2016. As a swimmer, he represented Jamaica at the 1996 Summer Olympics and Great Britain at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He won the 4×100 FINA World Swimming Championships in Hong Kong in 1999. In 1998, he won the 4×50 meters freestyle and medley at the European Short Course Swimming Championship held at the Pond Forge International Sports Center in Sheffield, England. The 48-year-old Brinn was also the head coach of the swimming and diving team of Wright State University in Ohio.
Since joining the Pioneers, Brinn has continued with the tradition of winning the NJCAA Championships. We are hopeful they will continue with the winning streaks for as long as possible.
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